Not So Sweet
by iRailgun
Summary: Neo struggles to find herself in the world of Remnant. Does she have what it takes to make it out alive? Neo background story to present
1. Mountain Glen

**I don't own RWBY, all rights reserved by Monty and Roosterteeth.**

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><p><strong>~15 Years Ago~<strong>

Mountain Glen. A city erected outside the kingdom of Vale in hopes to help relieve the growing population of the city. The city had a massive concrete wall that enclosed the city to protect itself from the dangers of Grimm. Inside the city, mans' technological advances were not completely utilized to build this so called utopia. A large majority of the money allocated for the city's construction was localized to the business area and few large homes that were designated for private investors and company families alike. Passed the commercial area were the suburbs meant to house the citizens. At first glance, all the houses were created equal, multiple stories, paved streets, running electricity, and walls to help distinguish neighborhoods. Outside of these walls, far from the sight of ordinary eyes, lay the rest of the city. So called houses that were no more than glorified huts, streets that were poorly paved or not at all, leaving dirt trails that travel from house to house.

The current government had promised many of the lower middle class and low class citizens of Vale better living conditions, a steady income, and for some, equality. The Faunus War, although it had taken place more than 50 years ago, left lingering resentment from those who still believed that the Faunus were inferior to humans. Unfortunately for the Faunus community, a few of the private investors who had helped with the cities construction also shared this belief and hoped to use Mountain Glen to get rid of the growing Faunus population in the kingdom. Once the construction of the city was finished, quiet operations funded by the investors had taken place to uproot the Faunus community from the kingdom of Vale to the new city of Mountain Glen. The White Fang cried out against the injustice that was taking place of their brethren but without proper representation, their cries were just dismissed as another White Fang rally in the eyes of the masses.

The next targeted group for the Vale government was their overcrowded and still growing lower class citizens. Even those in power didn't wish to forcefully remove the people from their homes, due to the obvious reasons of Grimm out in the wild and the possible hunters and huntresses that can be raised, the city started taking a toll in their resources as their upkeep of the citizens began to exceed their expectations. The solution had finally come from an upcoming and pragmatic young general named James Ironwood. He suggested to the Council in Vale to offer their lower classes citizens two possibilities for a better life, the first is to let the young and able to apply for the Atlassian military. He noted the Atlassian military were beginning to decrease in numbers and he believed that offering people a well paying job and a roof under their heads would make the people flock to Atlas. This idea had resounded well within the Council as they relied on hunters and huntresses for defense and had never kept a large standing army. The other option Ironwood had suggested was giving the citizens the newly built houses of Mountain Glen, to allow them to work off for the house as citizens with comfortable living conditions would not risk their lives outside the defenses of the city. The Council made the final decision of allowing Ironwood to recruit civilians from the city of Vale, not just lower class citizens, in exchange for protection from Grimm attacks for one year while the city was being colonized. The Council had also taken Ironwood's idea of offering houses to the citizens in exchange for labor. With last details finalized, those in power finally set their plans into motion.

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><p>"Ooooh, look mom! They're offering houses in the new city of Mountain Glen! They're giving away free houses!" Neopolitan had exclaimed as she waved the flier in front of her mother's face. Neo, as she was called by most of her friends and family, was a very active girl, curious about a life outside the city of Vale and already fantasized of living a life as a huntress. Last year, at the age of 8, she managed to walk to Beacon Academy, somehow avoiding the dangerous Grimm, planning on continuing until she made it outside of the kingdom walls. She was finally stopped by a young huntress wrapped in a white cloak, donning a symbol of a rose on the right side of her belt. She hasn't forgotten that day, mostly because her parents were worried sick and she had gotten in a lot of trouble but it had solidified her dreams of becoming a huntress when the woman in white seemed to dance around the Grimm they encountered on the way back to the city.<p>

"Nothing in this world is free Neo," her mother, Strawberry, had responded. "Its probably just a scam that isn't even related with the government." Her mother was the nicest person in the entire world, as far as Neo was concerned. She always helped those in need, not caring for favors in return but doing kind deeds for the sake of being kind. Her mother was a strong woman with a gentle heart but held a sharp tongue. Neo had learned early on that she never wanted to be on the receiving end of another one of her mothers lecture.

"Yeah honey, remember that this world isn't full of nice people," chimed in her father, Choco. Calling her father a large man was an understatement as he towered over his neighbors and wife. Choco used to be a hunter, vigilantly protecting the city walls from all sorts of Grimm until an encounter with a large pack of Beowolves had turn south when a family of Ursai had come out from their den due to the battle that was taking place outside. He and his team managed to clear out the threat but he was badly injured when an older Ursa had managed to swipe at his right leg and nearly tear it off. He was rushed to the hospital and luckily the doctors were able to patch his leg so that he may walk again but the damages to his ligaments meant that he was forced to hang up his weapon and end his career as a hunter. Neo heard this story many times but her favorite part came after the battle, her parents meeting. Strawberry was assigned as the head nurse to tend to Choco during his physical therapy and the two fell in love. A few years after their marriage, Strawberry gave birth to Neo. Their daughter did not inherit either of their genetics as Neo had snowy white hair and her skin color never turned any darker than a light beige. Her iris were clear, as if she had lacked them and she had dark pupils that contrasted her entire being. They were a small family, but they were happy, or so Neo had thought.

Before Neo was born, Choco had lost his ability to bring in income due to his injury and had to settle working in the Dust mines for low wages and terrible working conditions. While Strawberry was in the process of delivering Neo, she lingered between life and death, but was able to pull through thanks to the support of her husband and the doctors at the hospital but found her body to be weak after the childbirth. For several months she had tried to return to work only to find herself fainting in the middle of operations, mixing up prescriptions and overall a hazard to the workplace. The hospital were forced to let her go, which she had understood but still was still saddened by the news. The unfortunate events that had happened to the couple led to a falling economic standing as they were unable to support their lifestyle and eventually moved to another house, this time much worse than their current. They moved from their apartment in the middle of urban Vale to a single story house near the edge of the city. Although calling it a house was rather extravagant, there were problems with the plumbing, holes in the ceiling and nearly every wall had its paint peeling off. It took a couple of months but the couple had finally fixed their new abode to somewhat respectable living conditions for their newborn daughter.

Neo looked at her parents and smiled, "but that doesn't mean that there aren't nice people!" She didn't know anything about the lifestyle that her parents used to lead aside from the stories she was told, and as far as she was concerned, she wasn't missing out on having a "better life", as her parents often referred it. What mattered to her was that her parents were there with her, and as long as she had them, she was happy.

Her parents had smiled back at her. The naivety that Neo had often expressed reminded them of their younger days, when they were oblivious to the intricate parts of life. "Go to bed young lady, you have to go to school in the morning."

Neo groaned, "But its only eiiiiiigghhhhhtttt!" She whined and gave her best puppy dog face, she knew it worked most of the time, she just wanted to spend more time with her family, that wasn't so bad, right?

"Bed. Now, young lady," her mother had given the final word. Neo shot a pleading looking to her father but only saw the look she was familiar with, it said "sorry, mom said no." With a final grumble, she bid her parents goodnight and went off to her room across the hall.

~_A few hours later~_

"...do…. think?"

"Its…co….ly...legi…"

Neo's eyes fluttered and she was awakened by whispers coming from the kitchen. It wasn't uncommon for her parents to be awake at this time and normally she just returned to bed, but tonight, her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Slowly she creeped over to the door and opened it ever so slightly so she can hear her parents talking.

"There's absolutely no chance I'm risking what we have now for some promise by the government," her mother had said.

"Honey, one of my old and trusted friend said the program is completely legitimate. They're preferring families to apply for the houses and allowing those who work in the city to commute with a specially built subway system. Don't you see? If we take up the offer and move to Mountain Glen, we can give Neo the better life that she deserves," her father replied.

"And you don't think she has a good life now?"

"You know that's not what I meant."

There was a small pause followed by a sigh, "Yeah I know, I'm just scared of risking what little we have to lose it all."

"Don't worry honey, I promise nothing will happen to us in Mountain Glen. I'll continue working, perhaps you can apply for some shifts at their hospitals, I was told that medical crew was severely lacking applications. Finally, Neo can grow up in a better environment than what we have now."

"I hope so…"

Neo had tuned out the rest of their conversation. _We're moving_?! Her mind raced with the opportunities and possible adventures that she can have in the new city. It also meant that she had easier access to the Grimm, giving her an easier time to train. Then she thought of her friends. She was never really close to anyone so she figured that moving wouldn't be a big deal. Neo crawled back to her bed, a massive smile plastered on her face.

_Mountain Glen, here I come._ With that final thought, Neo closed her eyes and waited for sleep to take her.


	2. A New Home

Quick AN: I went back and found a few grammatical and spelling mistakes in the first chapter.

Disclaimer again: I don't own RWBY, but you know if I did, there'd be more Neo all the time.

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><p>Several months have passed since Neo and her family moved to Mountain Glen. True to their word, Choco's former friends pulled some strings and put their family on the top of the list to be moved to Mountain Glen. Unfortunately for them, many citizens also the promise for a better future and clamored to apply for housing, leaving them with a house near the gated community that was meant for the Faunus. Although they were finally able to move away from the slums of Vale, across the street held a constant reminder of the life that they used to have. The houses resembled their old shack, little to no streetlights and lack of paved roads. The worst part of it all was the around the clock patrol of Atlassian Knights and military around the border of the Faunus community, as if they were caged animals that weren't allowed to interact with the humans. Within the several months of colonizing Mountain Glen, the Faunus constantly cried out against the injustice that was happening towards them but were only met by force in return. The media had been kept in the dark about the abuse that was taking place, the inhumane hours that took place to excavate the mines beneath the city and refine the Dust gathered from mining. As time passed, the Faunus community separated from the rest of the city began turning to violence in order for their voices to be heard. It started with small acts of vandalism, graffiti on the walls, breaking into shops near the border, but eventually they moved to larger scale acts, destroying Atlassian Knights on patrol, sabotaging Dust mining and even as far as mounting an attack against a Dust refinery. General Ironwood and his forces reacted quickly and quelled the rebellion, and immediately strengthened the amount of military presence in Mountain Glen.<p>

It was also around this time that Grimm attacks began to be more prominent. At first, only scattered attacks along the walls had occurred. This was not unnatural as the city itself was in the middle of a large forest covering the entire wildlife. But as time went on and social unrest grew within the city, so the did the scale of the attacks. Multiple packs of Beowolves, Ursai, and Nevermore began to attack the walls, with determined coordination. Older and more powerful Grimm counterparts began to appear as well, and seemed to be leading younger Grimm in tactical groups, searching for a weak spot to exploit. Time and time again, Ironwood repelled the attacks, but with each passing victory, more and more of his units were being killed or severely injured.

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><p><em>City Council of Vale, Top Floor<em>

"_What's your opinion General? The amount of Dust deposits in those mines are too invaluable for us to abandon the city_."

"Sir, the main reason Grimm are attacking the city is due to the Faunus, their hatred towards their treatment continue to attract the Grimm and its only growing more each day."

"So we get rid of the Faunus living there, we've already rid of most of the trash in the city, I'm sure no one will notice if they go missing in Mountain Glen."

"No, I need those workers, as much as it pains me to defend those animals, they're willing to do the work that humans are not."

"Mister Schnee has a point. The only reason why we've been able to retrieve so much Dust is due to the Faunus labor, their night vision had been a tremendous help as well. Their exploration of the darkest parts of the mines paved way for our engineers to set up tracks and continue excavation. Deaths are part of any workplace, and we hope to continue to minimize human deaths within the mines."

"_Well then what do we do? If we don't come up with a plan soon enough, the city will fall from either the Faunus from the inside or the Grimm from the outside."_

"Rest assured, Councilman. My forces will continue to suppress this rebellion and keep the city safe from Grimm. Not to mention we now have those gullible hunters and huntress from Beacon Academy to help clear the wave after wave of Grimm."

"_For your sake_, _I hope you can keep that promise General, it isn't just your ass on the line."_

"Yes, sir."

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><p>"You're so slow Neo! Try to keep up!" Cyan yelled as she sprinted towards the finish line. Looking back, she saw her friend desperately trying to catch up to her but with no luck.<p>

"Cy... stop... running... so fast!" *Gasp* Neo greedily took in air as her lung screamed its necessity. "It's not fair, you're taller than me!" It was true, Cyan was a squirrel Faunus, one of the few who were not penned like cattle. Her family was wealthy enough and had influence in the political community as her father served as councilman and able to land a comfortable home in Mountain Glen. Despite her Faunus background, the two became good friends when they met in Poynting Academy, perhaps it was Neo's parents extensive background that she saw people for who they were, not what they were. Cyan, on the other hand, used to view humanity as horrible beings, out to destroy her and family. The fact that her father was elected as a council member left much disdain within the Vale community and the family constantly received death threats, and hated by the public eye. At first, Cyan hated Neo, she saw the girl as another human, pretending to be her friend only to betray her in the end, she'd had enough experience not to trust anyone so easily. What turned her around was an incident with a couple of upperclassmen from their school.

_~A few weeks ago~_

"Well, well, what do we have here? A lost little rat that needs to make its way back to the gutters." Two boys, twins named Ned and Ted sneer as they walk up to Cyan who was reading a book underneath a tree. The twins hit their growth spurt earlier than the rest of their classmates and are a head taller than everyone else, they were especially mean towards girls and even worse to the few Faunus that attended their school.

Cyan tried to ignore them, this started once the school year began, and it was mostly harmless bullying, or so she thought. The twins leered over the small Faunus girl and began to pull on her ears perched atop her head.

"Ow, please stop, don't you two have better things to do," Cyan snapped. Her passive nature never let her raise her hand against anyone, but she'd be damned if she let people walk all over her.

"Do you hear that bro? The trash is talking, let's take to where it belongs, the air is starting to reek here." The two boys snickered as they stop menacingly in front of Cyan. Ted aggressively grabbed Cyan's tail that was curled around her legs and pulled, hard.

"OW, stop it! That hurts!" cried Cyan.

This only encouraged the boys to continue, cursing at the Faunus for her existence. Cyan was now in the verge of tears, desperately wishing for help, but knowing full well that it wouldn't come.

"Ow, what the hell!" exclaimed Ned as a small rock hit the back of his head. The two turned around to find a smaller girl standing a few feet away from them with a few more rocks in her hands.

"Why don't you leave her alone," Neo stated.

"And who's going to make us? You? I hear you couldn't even unlock your semblance, even though the rest of our class already has theirs." Neo flinched, it was true, she had a hard time maintaining her limited aura pool and what's worse was her semblance was nowhere near her grasp. To make matters worse, Neo only trained in defensive fighting, due to her miniature size, there was no way she would be able to take them on.

"You two only pick on girls, I'm sure you're nothing more than cowards, I'm more than enough for you." Neo mustered all of her courage and tried not to stutter through her empty threat. Cyan shrank back into a ball, tending to her tail and ears, watching and listening intently to the small girl defending her.

Ned and Ted had forgotten about the female Faunus and now fully turned their attention to Neo, with eyes burning with anger at her statement. Within seconds the two flared their auras and a orange glow of light encompassed Ted and icy white glow emanated from Ned.

"You're going to regret that," Ted growled as he formed a small ball of fire in his palm, while Ned had a decent sized spear in his own.

Neo's eyes widened and flared her own aura. The gentle glow that surrounded her body was less definitive than her opponents. Ted began to throw fireball after fireball at Neo while Ned used the reach of his spear to attack from another angle. Neo's aura began to flicker and parts of her flesh started to singed or cut from the relentless attacks of the twins.

Finally, the inevitable happened, Neo's aura was completely depleted and the glow dissipated from her body.

The boys sneered and moved in closer to the cut and bruised Neo.

"See, should've minded your own business, there's no point in trying to stand up for an animal like her."

"Heh," Neo gave a weak smile, "the only animals here are you two."

Looks of anger flashed over the twins' face and both raised their weapons with a killing intent.

Neo looked over at the Faunus girl, pleading for help. Cyan, too shocked or too scared to move, met her gaze and was instantly overcome with guilt. She broke the contact immediately, choosing to bury her face in her knees instead.

Neo's heart dropped as Cyan dropped her head into her body, curling further into herself. _Well I guess I did get myself into this mess,_ she thought. _She never asked her my help and look where it got me, I just wanted a friend…_

Neo braced herself for a painful impact, but moments passed and it never came. She dared to open one of her eyes and saw that there was another boy between her and her aggressors.

Cyan fought through her guilt and opened her eyes, hoping that her body would do something, anything! She saw the twins swing down their semblance made weapons and tried to cry out.

"NO!" is what she would have yelled, but nothing more than a weak moan came out instead. But the attacks never reached Neo. Within an instant, Ted's had was deflected upwards, causing the ball of fire to scorch the tree above and Ned's spear was parried by a cane. Standing in between them was a boy, with orange hair styled in a comb over and covering his right eye. The blue tie he wore with his school uniform indicated he was four grades above Neo and Cyan and about to graduate from Poynting Academy.

"You two are pathetic," he said in a calm voice. "Do everyone a favor and leave."

Neo barely had time to hear the boy speak before the entire world turned black.

When Neo regained her consciousness, she found herself laying on top of a bed with curtains pulled around her. _The nurses office? Ow._ Neo tried to sit upright only to feel stings of pain all over her body. Something rustled out of the corner of her eye and the curtain was pulled open.

"You're finally awake," Cyan stated. Her eyes were red and heavy from exhaustion.

_Had she been crying? _"Thanks, how long was I out?" Neo asked.

"Six hours, the school called your parents so that they wouldn't worry, the twins are getting detention for what they did to you, but its not enough, they'll just come back worse than this time."

"Well thats okay, you're safe from them, right?" Neo replied.

"NO! I'm not! Why did you have to do that? I could've handled it on my own! Why would you risk your life for a Faunus you don't even know?!"

Neo was shocked. _Why is she angry at me?!_ Her face turned into a scowl. "I'm sorry I tried to help! I couldn't just stand around and watch a person be bullied, that's not what being a huntress is about! But you know what, if this is the sort of thanks I get for trying to help you, then I'll just leave you alone next time!"

The rest of Neo's statements were muffled once Cyan heard the word 'person'.

"Do you really think of me as a person…? I'm not just a Faunus to you..?" Cyan wondered. All of her anger diffused from the possibility of acceptance, a friend.

"Well yeah, you're living here and now aren't you? Just because you've got a bushy tail doesn't mean anything. My parents always told me to look past appearances. I've seen you around school, you're the nicest person here, and I wanted to be your friend." Neo's anger also dissipated as she lay out her true intentions to the Faunus girl.

Cyan smiled and tears began to fall from her eyes again. She moved closer to the smaller girl and wrapped herself around her in a large, warm hug.

"Thank you."

~Present Day~

Ever since the incident with the twins, Neo and Cyan have been inseparable. Neo's association with a Faunus gained her negative attention from the rest of her classmates who hated Faunus presence in their school, but she didn't care. She had a best friend to share everything with, and she wasn't going to give it up for anything.

"Come on slowpoke, you're the one who wanted to race back to your house! I didn't think I'd have to stop every block for you," Cyan teased.

"Yeah but you're cheating! I saw you activate your semblance when I was catching up to you!" Neo whined.

"Hey, whatever it takes to win." The pair smiled at each other and began to walk towards Neo's home. "I'm excited for today, I think you'll really like the birthday present I got for you."

"If it isn't ice cream, then I don't want it."

"Oh really? Well I'll take it then, it was pretty expensive you know."

"Really? WHAT IS IT?"

"We'll have to wait and find out."


	3. Revolution

__A/N: Felt like a good day to write, wanted to cut it off because it would be too long. The next chapter may or may not be out this week, midterms and such. Also looked back at the previous chapters, more minor grammatical and spelling errors, nothing too outstanding.  
><em>_

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><p><em>~Day of the incident~<em>

Cyan and Neo walk together from the nurses' office towards Neo's home. Due to her injuries, Neo was limping and Cyan was adamant about making sure she walk her home. Despite all of Neo's protests, Cyan did not yield ground and Neo finally gave into the request.

"Wow you live pretty close to me, I'm just a few blocks that way." Cyan pointed to the east, towards the Faunus homes.

"You live with the rest of the Faunus?" Neo was curious, as far as she knew, no Faunus lived outside of the designated homes.

"Nope, our house is the last row before those homes," Cyan replied. "The looks that we get from the others and the humans…" Cyan whispered, her statement trailed off as she recalled the glares she would receive whenever she left the house…

"Cyan! Hey!" Neo waved her hand at her friends face. "Are you okay? You spaced out there for a while. We're here." Neo opened the front door to her house and yelled out, "Mom, Dad, I'm home! I brought a friend over!"

Strawberry was walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway to greet her daughter. There was some rustling followed by a loud crash that came from upstairs, her father must've been sleeping. His hours as foreman of one of the mines were unpredictable, he tried to be home as much as possible, but he often missed his daughter going to and from school. Tonight, for better or worse, he was home.

_Great, I'm probably going to get yelled at… Maybe they'll go easy on me. I hope.. _Neo thought.

"NEO, what happened to you?!" Strawberry exclaimed as she rushed over to her daughter wrapped up in bandages. Her father stumbled down the stairs, half-asleep.

Cyan's tail and ears drooped, her guilt began to wash over her again.

"What's going on?" Choco yawned, eyes were still half-closed. He finally realized the cause of the commotion and rushed over to his daughter.

"Who did this to you?" He growled. "There's gonna be hell to pay."

"Mom. Dad. I'm fine! Really! There were some mean boys picking on my friend here and I had to stop them. After all, it was you guys who told me to help whoever was in need."

The parents looked at each other, then back to their child and smiled.

"Well okay but your school is still going to hear from us. I can't have my baby girl getting hurt because I'm not around." Choco said.

The parents then turned to Cyan, who was staring intently at the ground.

"Well aren't you going to introduce us to your new friend? Lift up your head honey." Strawberry's sweet voice directed towards the two girls.

Cyan slowly lifted her gaze from the ground towards Neos' parents. She dared not to move her head as she was afraid what they would say to her. Afterall, they didn't know it was her fault but it wasn't very hard to figure out. Why would they be understand? They're daughter is hurt, and it was all because of her. She wouldn't forgive her, nobody would.

Cyan felt a tug on her blouse, she turned her gaze towards Neo, who had a smile plastered on her face.

"Come on, say hi," Neo whispered.

Cyan finally gathered all of her courage and lifted her head to meet the parents' gaze. For the second time today, she was shocked. There was no hint of malice, no hint of blame in their faces. It was only filled with understanding, welcoming and warm. Cyan fought hard to stop the tears forming, and inhaled.

"Hello, Mr and Mrs Sundae. It's nice to meet you, my name is Cyanamist Mizukage. Everyone calls me Cyan."

"Mizukage? Isn't that the last name of that Council member who pushed for Faunus equality in Vale? I liked him," Choco absentmindedly stated.

"Honey hush, I'm sure she doesn't want us to harass her about her family. Come on girls, get cleaned up, supper is almost ready."

"Yay I'm starved!" Neo exclaimed.

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><p><em>~Present day~<em>

"Cy! HEY, watch out for that pole!" Neo yelled as she pulled her friend aside to evade the streetlamp that was in front of them.

"Huh? Oh Neo, hey, sorry," Cyan apologized.

"Geez, you sure space out a lot, what would you do without me," Neo teased.

"I don't know, probably not get into as much trouble."

"HEY! I do not get into trouble because I want to, it's only because I get caught."

"Sure, sure."

"Hmmpphh," Neo pouted. She looked up at the crimson sky and the setting sun, "You know I love this time of year. Not because its near my birthday, but the leaves turning red and falling everywhere, it's so romantic." The streets of Mountain Glen were covered by leaves from the surrounding forest. They weren't bright red like the leaves from Forever Fall but had a darker shade, almost like…

"OH! Come on, I can smell my mom's cooking from here, I hope there's ice cream!" Neo's thoughts were derailed as the smell of curry wafted through the air.

"You know your relationship with ice cream is unh-wahhhh," Cyan was pulled by her smaller friend as she was dragged towards Neo's house.

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><p>"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Neeooo~ Happy birthday to yoouuuu," The trio sang to Neo who happily swayed to their voices.<p>

"Yayyy!" Neo smiled, and blew out the candles. "PRESENTS! Where is Cyan's? She said it was good, I want to open that first!"

"Hey now, you could hurt our feelings, our present is good too," her father feigned being hurt.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that…"

"It's okay honey, your father is just teasing you, here's her present, go ahead and open it."

"Thanks mom," she stuck her tongue out at her dad as she received the present. The second she had her hands on it, she began to tear through the delicate wrapping used to conceal her present. Inside was a clear case with a light pink umbrella. Neo's eyes widened as she took out the umbrella and unfolded it. The entire umbrella had the weight of a feather, the shaft was dark and there was some sort of plating that separated the shaft and the handle. The canopy itself was nearly see-through with intricate floral arrangements designed in a circular pattern radiating from the center. The ribs of the umbrella extended further from the canopy, making for a wider grip when the umbrella was closed.

"It's… it's so pretty…" Neo marveled at her gift. "Thank you Cy! Thank you, thank you! But why an umbrella? It hardly rains in Mountain Glen."

"Pull on the handle," Cyan instructed. Neo followed her friends instruction and was surprised when she pulled a small blade hidden in the shaft.

"Remember when we tried out weapons in school? Everyone laughed at you for trying to wield that huge broadsword, and in range practice, every shot you fired knocked you to the ground I figured something this small should help protect you instead of just kicking people in every fight. Besides, I'm really jealous of your skin, I feel like I should do everything to help protect that silky color."

"Wow… This means a lot Cy, I'll make sure to practice with it!"

"You're welcome! Yeah the entire thing is made out of tempered steel and has layers upon layers of carbon nanotubes to help it from breaking. I'm not sure what that means but the salesman made it seem really strong."

"Wow little Cyan, you sure spent a lot of money on this. That sort of technology isn't easy to come by, are you sure your parents are ok with it?" Choco asked.

"Yeah, they were fine with it," Cyan's eyes flashed to the ground and she gave a weak smile.

"Hmmm, I see," Neo's father said. "Well as long as it's okay with them… Here Neo, here's my present and here's your mothers present."

Neo went through the gift wrapping at an alarming rate and in front of her lay multiple necklaces, what seemed to be hand-made from refined Dust minerals from her father's box and a large white coat with pink fur on the inside and pink accentuated cuffs and collar from her mother's box.

"Wow, this is the best present ever! Thanks everyone!" Neo was extremely happy, and nothing was going to take that away from her.

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><p>~<em>Somewhere outside of Mountain Glen~<em>

"_Are preparations complete? The sun's almost set, we need to move soon," _said a gruff voice, impatient that they still haven't mobilized.

"Yes Adam, I know this is our first mission assigned with us in charge, but you need to relax, everything's going to be fine," said a girl to the one named Adam. "More importantly, what are we going to do once the hunters and huntresses mobilize? We're only suppose to destroy the pillboxes and any knights that spot us."

"We try to keep quiet, blend in with the other Faunus when we rally them together. If our intel is correct, the place is on the verge of a revolution, we just need to give them a little push… and if any hunters get in the way.." Adam unsheathed his katana, "then we eliminate them."

"Adam! The hunters are innocent in all of this, they don't know what's going on!"

"That's exactly the point! It's because those hunters are oblivious to the torture and inequality that the Faunus are subjected to that they're as much to blame as those who are in charge!"

"I still don't feel right about this…"

"There's no time for doubts, grab your weapon and let's go, the troop leaders are ready."

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><p>~<em>Somewhere in Vale, around the same time~<em>

"_This is unacceptable general! The media is beginning to leak information about Mountain Glen. I thought you told me you were able to handle this."_

"Well Councilman Stokes, considering that Vale hasn't kept its promise in helping with my knight's upkeep and the increasing Grimm attacks and Faunus revolts, I'm not surprised the media hasn't gotten wind of the situation in Mountain Glen ages ago."

"_Do not test me Ironwood, I was the one who helped reached your position in the Atlassian military, and I sure can hell strip that away. Don't think that just because you're friends with that obnoxious Headmaster, you can ignore your orders."_

"Well Councilman, whether or not you believe I'm disobeying orders, Mountain Glen still needs to be handled. I've sent multiple requests for parts and weapons, the sooner I receive them, the better I can defend the city."

"_One day your arrogance will come back to haunt you Ironwood. For now I'll let this go, but make sure that my name does not surface in any of this. As far as your supplies, I'll personally see to the paperwork."_

"Thank you sir, and you have nothing to worry about." *Click* The scroll turned dark.

* * *

><p>"Yayyyyy, ice cream is the best," Neo happily skipped beside Cyan. The two friends went out for ice cream after her birthday dinner. "You know your present is really nice, you didn't have to spend so much on me!"<p>

"Hehe, you were going on and on so much earlier about wanting an expensive present. What happened? The great Neo isn't one to be modest or embarrassed about anything!" Cyan teased, her friend was too easy of a target.

"Yeah but I didn't actually think that you would do it!" Neo's cheeks flushed. "But I'm still really happy, I'll find something just as good for your birthday!"

"Haha okay!" It was the first time that Cyan had truly been happy. Then the ground shook and a large inferno erupted from the horizon, in the direction of Cyan's home. She looked in disbelief, _there's no way… No, no no no! This can't be happening_.

"Cy! Come on! Let's go!" Neo tugged at her friend and the two rushed off towards her home.


	4. Breach

"Deploy the Atlassian knights, now!"

"But sir, what about the walls!"

"I don't care about the walls! Keep the column sentries at their positions, but mobilize all other available units within the city. I'm sure the White Fang is behind this, but they will be stopped. We need to contain this and stop the Faunus from making it to the media…"

"….Set the knights to kill on site. No one escapes from the battlezone."

"Sir what about the civilians!"

"DO NOT QUESTION ME MAJOR, DO AS YOU'RE COMMANDED!" The room echoed.

There was an uncomfortably long silence in the war room before someone finally responded.

"Yes sir.."

"Oh, have the hunters move in silence. Use them to destroy the opposition in the dark, we can't have discernible faces just in case the news catches wind. Also mobilize the mages, get silencing spheres around the area, take control of the broadcasting stations in Mountain Glen. We take every measurement possible to make sure that the White Fang does not reach their goals. One last thing, prepare my airship, it might be time to give these people a visit."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

><p>Neo and Cyan sprinted towards the origin of the explosion. As they ran, they saw more and more people running away, mostly terrified humans. Cyan managed to stop one of them and calm them enough to speak.<p>

"Sir! What's going on?"

"It's those filthy Faunus, they just can't be happy with what's being given to them and they just want more." He turned to Cyan and gave a menacing glare. "Turn away girls, they're destroying everything in sight and I'm sure their blood-lust will not stop until they've annihilated everything in the way."

Before Cyan could protest, the man ran off, eager to get away from the fighting. With a small tug on her jacket, Cyan ran after Neo, hoping that her parents were ok.

As they neared the epicenter of the explosion, they noticed that the wall separating human and Faunus homes was completely obliterated. Houses on both sides of the wall were turned to complete rubble and it was complete chaos. Cyan was relieved to see that her home was still intact but the front door to her house was wide open. Their gazes turned from the houses to the streets. Everywhere they turned, there was the echo of metal clashing, the smell of gunpowder permeating the air, flashes of aura and semblances being activated and blood. Much of the ground was covered with a layer of blood, mixed with the dead leaves but almost indiscernible as the pool coated the ground. Along with the horrifying sight of blood, there lay dead and dying on the ground. Normal people had very weak auras to begin with and it didn't take more than one or two Dust rounds to pierce through someone's aura. The girls tried not to look as they made their way towards Cyan's home but screams of anguish kept piercing the night air. Their path was littered with limbs, people with chunks of their flesh missing and body parts cut off.

"Help me!"

"For the love of god, where are the ambulances!"

"DAMN THOSE FAUNUS!"

The air was filled with screams of rage, anger, sorrow and pleading. Looking further into the horizon, they could see Atlassian knights and Faunus continuing to battle it out. Much of the Faunus force were armed with personal but simple weapons; swords and small guns. But permeated within the Faunus fighting force had military grade weapons, large cannons, multi-purpose guns, and heavy machinery in general. Opposing them were the Atlassian Knights v1.0, slow to react and extremely rigid movements but their sheer numbers made up for their immobility. In the skies, airships were coming from the north, dropping off more and more knights. It seemed as if the Atlassian military was pulling out all of their stops. Along with the knights, there were small flashes of light, people in hooded clothing dancing throughout the battlefield. They would appear behind on the rooftops, survey the field, disappear and certain enemies would fall before reappearing on another rooftop before repeating the process again.

"White Fang…" Cyan whispered to herself as she surveyed the area.

"What? Why would they be behind this?" Neo questioned.

"Look around you! The Faunus in this area aren't equipped to fight! They barely have anything to defend themselves! Doesn't it seem weird that some of those guys are carrying weaponry that's much more sophisticated than the rest? Even if they're in civilian clothing, it must be part of someones plan."

"Whoa… you're right," Cyan marveled at her friends deduction. "Come on! We're almost at your house, let's make sure your parents are okay."

With a quick nod, the pair ran to the opened front door. They called out for Cyan's parents to no avail, although they had expected it already, seeing as her house was close to the explosion and the front door being opened meant they rushed out before anything else had happened.

"Well, what do we do now?" Neo was eying the door, making sure that there were no unexpected visitors that came in. "I know its optimistic to say, but I think your parents are already out of here, your father is still a well-known person so I think they'll be fine…"

Cyan sighed. "Yeah you're probably right, I still can't help but worry though. It's exactly my father's reputation that I can't rest until we've found them again. But for now, I'll put that aside and we can figure out how to get out of here."

Neo shifted her gaze towards the door again.

"What is it Neo?" Cyan snapped. "You've been staring at the door this entire time, if anyone was going to come into the house, they would've done it by now."

"Those people… they need help!" Neo pleaded. They were both too worried about Cyan's parents to fully understand the gravity of the situation outside. "We can't just leave them there!"

Once again, Cyan sighed. Neo's personality never let leave anyone alone, and her stubbornness meant that she was going to do what she wanted with or without help. Cyan smiled and remembered that it was exactly this sort of behavior that allowed them to meet in the first place.

"Alright Neo, there's a few first aid kits upstairs. Let me grab them and we can go help those people, I can't stand it anymore either." Cyan quickly ran to the cabinets upstairs that held the first aid kits and grabbed them before rushing down the stairs. She handed one to her waiting friend and rushed to the door.

Within the few minutes they spent inside Cyan's home, the fighting outside intensified. The civilian Faunus rallied together, crying out against the injustice and wanting their voices to be heard. From the corner of her eye, Neo noticed a large van with people huddled around it as a man with a Grimm mask handed out weapons.

"We will make them hear us! We will stand up for ourselves! They are not better than us! Fight brothers and sisters! Fight for yourselves, fight for your lives, but most of all, fight for your freedom!" One cried as he had a crowd gathered around him. As he finished his rally cry, all the Faunus in the early raised their weapons, with burning hatred in their eyes and marched off towards the battlefield that was their homes.

The White Fang also fielded their own "hunters" and "huntresses". Although they were never properly trained in academies, their outstanding individual prowess would have earned them the title of "hunters". The field turned from chaos of multiple skirmishes within the Faunus homes to full blown encounters that started from the city wall's and almost reaching Neo's home. The skilled fighters faced off against each other in single encounters or in pairs. All throughout the battleground, semblances were activated, Dust of multiple types and clash of blades rang out as neither side were willing to give up ground.

The Faunus line started from their homes and slowly pushed outwards, towards the center of the city, as they fought for every inch of ground. Unfortunately for them, the Atlassian military had a two front defensive that had to be broken through, one on each side of the Faunus homes. As soon as the Faunus would push through one end, reinforcements would arrive from the other and assault the backlines, it made progress for the Faunus very difficult.

Then it dawned on Neo, _how the hell are they keeping all of this quiet? There's so much going on in such a large area, why isn't there any news vans, helicopters, police or even ambulances?_

"Its a large cloaking spell," Cyan stated, as if reading Neo's mind. "At a glance, everything would seem to be normal from the outside. The military or whoever is in charge probably doesn't want the news from finding out what's happening. There's probably been a city wide hypnotism spell that makes the people avoid this quadrant of the city. Can you imagine if people find out that civilians were harmed during an attack? It would lead to another full scale war."

"What they're doing isn't right…" Neo managed to whisper. "Why isn't anybody helping these people? Why do they deserve to be ignored just because someone with more power than them says that they don't matter!"

"Because thats how the world is Neo!" Cyan's pent up anger finally exploded. The site of innocent Faunus being gunned down before her, her own experiences reminded her that the world was not kind. "You and your family may be willing to accept the Faunus, but the rest of your species is not! It makes you special Neo, but you need to grow up and accept the fact that this is how the world is, why those bullies pick on us. It's because they won't acknowledge our existence that some Faunus are forced to extreme measures like this…"

"..." Neo was at a loss for words. All this time, Cyan always figured her out, she knew everything about her, and she was happy to call her a friend, but now she's realized, she knows nothing about Cyan. She's closed herself off from the rest of the world, and even though they shared a lot of time together, she's never once cracked the shell that Cyan protect herself with.

"I…" Neo began.

"No Neo, it's okay. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken this out on you, this isn't your fault. Let's just go help those people," Cyan turned and walked towards someone who was still fully intact. They took up medical care as an elective at their academy because of their passive nature. Neither of them didn't want to see people get hurt, but didn't want to be panicked at the sight of blood either. Cyan began to take out gauze and bandages once she disinfected and cleaned the bullet wound that tore through the man's arm. Neo watched in amazement, even after all that she's been through, the first person that Cyan managed to help was a human… She tore her gaze away from the fighting and followed her friend, looking for another person to help.

* * *

><p><em>Outside of the City<em>

"What is that? Why are the trees rustling so much" asked someone piloting an airship.

"I don't know but whatever it is, it's heading towards the city."

"Is… is that-?" *CRASH* The bridge began blinking in red as the warning system blared.

WARNING: CRASH IMMINENT.  
>WARNING: CRASH IMMINENT.<p>

WARNING: CRASH IMMINENT.

"Mayday! Mayday! We're going down!" the home base received the message from the distressed airship. "There's huge amounts of -" Then there was static.

* * *

><p>Neo and Cyan set up camp outside of Cyan's home, bringing in the treatable wounded onto the soft grass for rest. For those who were already dead or far beyond from saving, they took any form of identification from their bodies so their deaths wouldn't go anonymously. They didn't feel right doing it, rifling through a dead person's body, but they figured that their deaths should at least have meaning and not just a statistic that ends up on the news, if it even got that far… But they worked through their feelings and continued trying to help people. Most of the humans shrank back at Cyan's touch while the Faunus did the same with Neo, but once they felt the gentle touch from the two girls who only wished to help them, they lowered their guards and dissolved their anger.<p>

"Cy, I…" Neo turned towards Cyan who was helping tend a cat Faunus that had her tail sliced off. It was the first time she had gotten a chance to speak to her friend other than simple word exchanges while patching people up.

"Neo, don't. I know I was wrong to snap at you, and I'm sorry. Any more will just make me feel guilty," Cyan cut her off.

"No Cy, I need to say this, and you need to listen," Neo affirmed. For the first time since they've become friends, Neo spoke against Cyan's words. Cyan perked her ears as to indicate she was listening.

Neo inhaled deep. "For the few weeks that we've spent together, I feel like you've gotten to know the real me, I've bared my entire heart for you in hopes that you would do the same. We may just be kids but with the world we live in, we don't really get that much of a childhood. For goodness' sakes, you gave me a sword for my eleventh birthday!" The two friends smiled at each other for a second. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's unfair Cy. It's unfair that you're still closed off and kept me shut out. I thought I was helping you humanity in a different light just to be completely blindsided that your opinion never changed. You only have to let me in Cy, I promise, even if we have to do it ourselves, even against all odds, we'll change humanities views on the Faunus race."

Cyan couldn't help but smile, "Why are you so adorable? Alright Neo, you and me, we'll change the world." They walked up and hugged each other.

"Aww isn't that adorable," said an unknown voice. "Two girls thinking that they have the power to change the world. I hate to break it to you kids, but this world is full of evil, and humanity is the source of it."

Neo and Cyan turned to find a young boy, not much older than them with brown hair, but the dim street lighting only accentuated his red highlights, wearing a long black overcoat, a Grimm mask to cover his face and wielding a katana on his left hip. His clothes seemed to give off a dim red hue around the design on his chest and legs. Besides him stood a girl, also very young and seemed to be a Faunus as her tail swayed back and forth behind her.

"W-who are you?" Neo stated as she changed to a defensive stance. Cyan stared at the person in front of her, glaring into where she guessed would be his eyes.

"Whoa whoa, I don't mean harm. I just came to talk to my Faunus sister here," he gestured towards Cyan. "Why are you helping these humans? I know who you are, Cyanamist Mizukage, daughter of elected Councilman Mizukage. You know, I was filled with false hopes as well when your father was elected for his term. We truly believe he would sway the other Council members into moving forward, accepting the Faunus as equals, but what happened? He became a puppet, he backed down every proposal every time there was some sort of threat and he just gave in willingly. Your father was a coward and you're helping humanity, you're a disgrace to all the Faunus in Remnant."

Cyan felt her blood _boil._ In all of her life, she's always let things go, taken on the live and let live mentality. But this, this boy, who had no idea who she was, what she's been through, had the audacity to tell her that her father was a coward and she was a disgrace? To top it all of, there was no actual sign that he himself was a Faunus. Her anger filled her vision as her aura began to emanate from her body. A soft and calming blue hue encompassed her and the water particles in the air began to swirl in a clockwise pattern around her.

This was the first time Neo had seen Cyan get angry. She only used her semblance to glide on the ground and even in sparring sessions, her semblance was only used to soften blows. But the way the water was swirling around her Cy and the killing intent that enveloped her eyes, it scared her.

"Oh that did it," the boy stated. "I guess even Faunus get angry when you tell them the truth. But if you're not fighting for our cause, then you're against it, and you must be eliminated." His clothing glowed in a deep red as he poised himself, hand on the hilt of his katana, left foot forward, waiting for a time to strike.

Then from the rooftops, a figure dropped down.

"You're that…" Neo began to speak.

"Not now. You, Faunus. Drop your aura," he pointed at Cyan. She blinked a few times, confused to who was giving her such an order, only to find it was the boy who helped rescue them from the bullies a few weeks ago. "He's too dangerous for someone like yourself to fight. Why is it that neither of you can keep out of trouble?" He gave an exasperated sigh and turned towards boy and girl. "And you two, your forces are being decimated by the Atlassian military, I hear that General Ironwood himself has taken to the field."

All four of them were in complete shock. All of the tension they had built up was completely diffused by a few simple sentences from him.

The boy in black turned around and scoffed. "Hmph, I suppose this isn't worth my time if there's a chance to kill a general. Come, we head to the front lines." With a quick motion, the pair disappeared into the night.

"Thank you, that's the second time you've come to help us now but we've never gotten your name," said Neo. "Especially me, I've never gotten a chance to say thank you for that day, so… thank you."

"Don't sweat it small fry, and the name's Roman Torchwick, or you can call me that anyway. I don't give away my real name to people so I just mostly go by that alibi. Besides, doesn't it sound cool?"

Neo nodded, she did like that name, it kinda rolled off the tongue. _Wait, did he just call me small fry?!_

Before Neo could protest, Cyan spoke up.

"Why are you even here? Why are you always around us? You have no obligation to help us, so why do you do it?" she questioned.

Roman rolled his eyes. "Easy there, bushy-tail. I'm here because, well there's a war in the dark that's going on so the school sent me to investigate. As far as being around you, call it being at the wrong place at the wrong time. And you're right, I have no obligation towards you, but when I see two runts getting picked on and not fight back, it gets me going and I feel like I should be the hero to save them. Come on now, let me hear your praise."

Neo giggled and Cyan just stared at him.

"Nothing? Damn, maybe I should go find other damsels in distress." He continued to prod at the two girls.

By this time the fighting had quiet down. The chaos that once rang throughout the city turned into a dull roar. Where the trio was standing was an eerily quiet and still night save the weak groans and coughs of the patients the two girls had helped.

"You know most people-" Roman started but was cut off as a deafening crash thundered through the sky and the earth shook with a violent force. All three of them turned towards the battlefield, the fighting didn't erupt again but their gazes were drawn upwards. There was a large section of the city wall was missing and from there protruded large tusks and menacing red eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Procrastination is a powerful force. Chaptermidterms. I hope you guys enjoyed reading as much I enjoyed writing, also wondering whether or not to bump up rating categories, I didn't think that the description was all too bad, but I might just to be safe. Also, I hope you're excited for NeoxRoman, sorry Baked Alaska shippers, maybe another time.**


	5. Awakening

Neo couldn't believe her eyes. Under the darkly lit streetlamps of Mountain Glen, she saw something that her studies said to have been long been extinct. What Neo could make out were multiple, massive quadrupeds that rivaled the size of the walls. The behemoths had exoskeleton tusks that protruded from their snouts and there was an exoskeleton mask that covered their face, only showing their glowing red eyes and their bodies blending into the darkness. Neo let her gaze wander towards the horizon and what she noticed even horrified her further. From the opening that the behemoth Grimm created, dozens and dozens of red eyes moved into the city. The commotion that was starting to dwindle now turned into a full scale panic, as Faunus, troops and hunters alike tried to scramble for safety.

"You two stay here, protect those people you've treated. It would be a shame if they died to those things after you've stabilized them," Roman instructed.

"Wait! Where are you going to go?" Neo panicked. Her voice now had a hint of fear, she'd never seen this amount of Grimm before, she only fought one or two Grimm during her training and it didn't help that there was a war happening at the same time.

"Don't worry, pint-size. I'm just going to the school, I need to tell the professor what's happening so they can rally the free-lance hunters and militia. Seeing as how our military is already fighting, we'll probably need more help," Roman stated factly.

"I have a name you know!" Neo pouted. _Who does this guy think he is!? Just because he's saved us twice doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants!_

"Yeah, yeah princess," Roman waved his hands at her, Neo stomping her feet in response. "Now, be a couple of good girls and don't die." Roman jumped onto one of the first story houses, then onto a second. Within seconds he was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, getting further and further away from the two girls, who just turned to each other in disbelief.

_What's happening right now!? First we walk into a Faunus and human war and now theres Grimm invading the city? Why now of all times?_ Questions raced through Neo's mind as she looked to Cyan for guidance. Cyan saw the sense of panic that had set on Neo's face and gave her a faint smile.

"Come on, those Grimm will be running throughout neighborhoods pretty soon. Let's get these people inside and close the door. It's a good thing that the house wasn't torn up too badly, if we keep quiet and barricade the door, I think we can wait for help."

Neo nodded. Cyan was always better at coming up with something in a quick pinch. Together, they began to bring their treated into Cyan's house, trying to drown out the sound of howls of pain and help coming from the west.

* * *

><p>"Sir! Large sections of the west wall has been destroyed! Th-there's Goliath class Grimm still trying to destroy more parts of the wall while hordes of Bestial class Grimm are pouring into the city. First and Second Platoon have been redeployed to create a defensive perimeter inside of the Faunus neighborhoods and the knights are being reset to take a defensive stance. Third and fourth platoons are ETA four minutes with some casualties, reports are coming in that flocks of Nevermore attacked them and the fighter escorts weren't enough," a messenger reported to Ironwood, who was waiting inside a commandeered home. "Also, the White Fang returned to their offensive, while the platoons were being relocated, they regrouped and started to hit our troops from behind, what should we do sir?"<p>

Ironwood sighed and pondered for an agonizing minute at his options. His men were all tense, waiting for their commander to lead them, but they knew full well of the wrath they would incur if they spoke out now to rush him. Ironwood leaned over a map of the city laid out in front of him. To the west, Grimm, to the east, White Fang, north and south situations were also deteriorating as the Goliath sized Grimm continued to bash head first into the walls. He didn't have to see it to know it was happening, the ground shook every time those things charged. To make matters worse, his troops were scattered, it was only a matter of time before his line would fall.

Finally Ironwood spoke. "Regroup the men into a spearhead, consisting of three companies and a support company behind them. Each spearhead will be responsible for holding two blocks of the city, nothing gets by. Understood?" Ironwood paused and looked around the room, each head nodding in confirmation. "Good. Have our snipers look for the places with the best vantage point, they just need to be able to relay information between each teams and provide backup for our support companies, if any White Fang tries to meddle with our lines, take them out. As for the knights, stop the reprogram, keep them on the hunt for White Fang. Since we they're hiding as civilians, change the target to all Faunus. We can't afford any mistakes at this point." No one said a word, with what happened in the briefing room just hours before, Ironwood's authority was absolute, his word was law.

"And what of the backup platoons sir?"

"Have them reinforce our northern and southern flanks, have the hunters focus on the larger and older Grimm, if one of them destroys a spearhead, then our formation will fall. Any questions?"

"No sir!"

"Dismissed!" Ironwood turned to leave the house, grabbing a large spear that housed a revolver where the guard was located, and a massive tower shield, almost seemingly impossible to carry but he did so with ease.

* * *

><p>"Adam, we need to pull our troops out! Those Grimm are going to kill everything!"<p>

"No! Dammit, this is the closest we've had the Atlassian army on their back foot, I'm not retreating now! Make sure everyone knows the plan. Hit the troops while they're busy fending off the Grimm, if they draw too much attention, pull back. Those robots shouldn't be a problem anymore since they're cut off from everything else, but send some of our men to destroy them."

"Adam… why… don't you care about the lives you're throwing away? What about those that sacrificed themselves in this fight?"

"If we don't accomplish anything here then their deaths will be in vain! Please… I need you to trust me and carry out the orders."

"Okay… I will."

* * *

><p>For what seemed to be hours, Neo and Cyan waited inside the house. From outside, they could only hear the sound of gunfire and the very distinct sound of Dust grenades exploding in the distance. At first, Neo was terrified, <em>what if they get into the rest of the city? Why hasn't the military stopped them yet? Where is Roman with help?<em> The questions never stopped invading her thoughts but after a short while, she grew impatient.

"Cy, we have to go out there! There's people who still need help! And I'm sure between the two of us, we can handle a couple of Grimm!" Neo talked excitedly, there was still a hint of fear in her voice, but she knew that if she stayed holed up, doing nothing, she would've lost her mind sooner than later.

"That's what you think Neo, but I think we're perfectly fine just sitting where we are," Cyan rebutted. "We may be huntresses in training, but we're still kids, we're far off from mastering our own techniques, let alone help in a situation like this. I think we should just let the adults handle this and wait for rescue to come."

"But we're ready! You've seen what we can do in the academy. We've fought Grimm already, so its not like its any different from before! Besides, don't you want to see real hunters and huntresses fighting? They're so cool!" Neo gushed, grabbed her parasol and headed towards the door.

"No Neo, I'm not. To be completely honest, I'm exhausted after what we've been through today. But if you're so willing to go out there, then I'm not going to stop you. But I'm going to stay here and tend to these people."

Neo sighed. "Well alright, I won't go too far, but I can't stay hiding here anymore, I feel like I'd be more useful looking for more people. I'll run from any sign of Grimm, alright?" Neo opened the door and walked out, giving her friend one last smile before closing it behind her.

* * *

><p>As Neo roamed the edges of the Faunus community, she noticed there were a lot of knights that were patrolling the area, although all of them had ignored her. Off in the distance, she saw the Atlassian infantry trying to hold off the Grimm. Since there were no set roads and the houses were scattered, she had a pretty good view of the entire fight. The center of the fight was the strongest as far as she could tell, and she didn't have to wonder why. Out in the front lines, stood General Ironwood, letting waves upon waves of beast sized Grimm crash into his shield, only to be killed by the soldiers on his flanks or a single thrust from his spear. Once the colossal sized Grimm started into the city, he set his shield down and lay his lance atop the shield. His lance then opened outward, revealing a hole big enough to fit a cannonball. Within seconds, the lance began to hum and whine, and began to glow in a bright white light. He pulled the trigger and a blinding light engulfed the area for a split moment before all of the built up energy was propelled forward, decimating the Goliath Grimm and everything else in its path.<p>

"Wooooow…" Neo marveled at what she just saw. _So this is what it's like when you get strong enough. You can singlehandedly protect everyone…_ Neo noticed that Ironwood's lance was giving off a lot of steam and had returned to it's original form. _Something of that caliber must have some sort of cooldown or else he'd be using it again._

Although the middle ground was faring well, the northern and southern flanks were having trouble keeping the Grimm at bay once Goliath Grimm entered the city. Hunters and infantrymen were doing their best to prevent the Grimm to pass through, but it was was yielding massive injury count and their death tolls were only rising. Little by little, the northern and southern flanks were pushed back, while more and more Grimm poured into the opening, hungering for access to rest of the city.

**Swoooosh!**

A claw swiped at the air where Neo stood moments ago. _Wow, any second longer and my head would've been rolling on the floor,_ Neo thought to herself as she drew the blade from her parasol. She turned to her assailant and found it to be a Beowolf, snarling and waiting for another moment to pounce. _Ok, remember my swordplay training. Beowolves have the least amount of armor so striking almost anywhere will be fine, just watch out for those swipes. _The Beowolf that stood before her was smaller than the average Grimm of the same type, meaning that it was younger in age. Along with its size, the Beowolf had significantly less spikes on its back and smaller paws and claws. Overall, Neo assessed that she should win this fight easily.

The Beowolf pounced again, a linear path towards Neo.

Neo reacted, later than she could have, letting the claws narrowly miss her throat. _This is too easy, nothing that I haven't dealt with before at the academy._

She swung her blade upward, cutting deep into the Beowolf's arm, but she made sure to not hit a vital spot as it would die and dissipate too quickly. No, she was going to have fun with her opponent. _Make it writhe in pain…_

The Beowolf dropped to the floor, only to be up and charging again without hesitation. This time, it swiped with its side that wasn't stabbed by Neo, still aiming for her throat. Once again, Neo deftly sidestepped the attack and went for a killing blow, lunging her blade into the skull of the Beowolf. The beast shuddered for a moment before dropping on the ground, where it began to disintegrate, leaving a black smoke trailing from its body.

_The excitement! The thrill of having my life on the line! This isn't anything like those stupid lectures, I can actually get hurt here!_ The feeling of euphoria surged through Neo's body. She was enjoying herself, the grim ambience only heightened her pleasure as she stared at the Beowolf's dead carcass. She didn't know what was happening but she felt a great sense of joy looking at the disappearing body. _It's because I'm helping save everyone, I'm not useless, I'm not weak, I am strong…_

Neo barely noticed more Grimm come towards her, barreling through the Atlassian knights that were only retaliating if it had survived the initial onslaught. She was now outnumbered, a semi-circle of Grimm consisting of multiple Beowolves and one massive sized Ursa. As luck would have it, her fight with her first Grimm ended by the side of a house and she was surrounded.

Neo's smile quickly disappeared and her face was quickly filled with panic. _What do I do? I've never fought 8 at once! There's way too many! No… I can do this, I can't back down now._ She raised her blade once more and readied herself.

* * *

><p>Cyan sat quietly in a corner of her house, hoping that sleep would come and overtake her, but knowing that her conscious wouldn't allow it. Also, the commotion outside grew louder and louder, to the point where she swore that people were outside her doorstep. With her curiosity and patience getting the better of her, Cyan stood up and opened the door, only to be greeted by a couple of soldiers sitting on her front porch. One of them had a massive gash across his stomach, the light fading from his eyes. The other only looked at Cyan before turning back to his brother-in-arms.<p>

"W-w-why are you guys here? I thought you were supposed to be defending the wall?" Cyan stammered, she didn't know what to say but wanted to know what was happening. It was the best she could come up with.

"Our flanks began to crumble," said the one looming over his comrade. "Grimm started to overrun us and our hunters were starting to get picked off… We had no choice but to run, they said reinforcements were suppose come, but it never did."

Cyan was shocked, but the very first thing that came to her mind was Neo.

"My friend is still out there!" Cyan turned to the direction of the fight and began to run.

"Wait, kid! Don't go over there, it's suicide!"

"I am a huntress-in-training! I'll do whatever it takes to protect this city!"

"I see… Well I don't know anything about hunters and huntresses but you don't have a weapon. Here, take this, it's the last one I have, I'd give you my gun but I ran out of bullets." The soldier handed her a grenade. "Use it as a last resort.."

"Thanks, I will," Cyan nodded and ran off.

* * *

><p><em>Parry upper swipe. Dodge and roll left, swing upright.<em> Neo was extremely concentrated at fighting her aggressors. Multiple minutes have passed and she's managed to take down three of the Beowolves. _I don't know why but I'm really glad that Ursa isn't moving, is it just playing with me? _Neo was distracted for a second and only managed to bring her blade up to parry another swipe from a Beowolf. Her unreadiness made her lose grip of her blade and it was sent across the dirt, leaving her defenseless.

_Great… Is this where it's really going to end?_ Neo checked herself, no significant wounds except for some minor cuts but her aura was running dangerously low and her weapon was in between the Ursa and a larger Beowolf. _I have to go get it if I want a chance…_

Neo waited for an opportunity that came when two Beowolves lunged at her flanks. She tumbled forward and bolted for her sword. Once she was in proximity, she dove forward and managed to grab the sword in her hand and raised her head. She saw a massive claw coming down on her. _I won't make it!_ She thought as she raised her hand to parry the blow while clenching her face for the end to come.

But nothing came. Neo waited for a second in disbelief, finally opening one eye to survey the area once she confirmed that was still alive. Standing before her were three Beowolves, impaled by icicles shaped like small spears. She tracked the trajectory of the weapons and found Cyan standing on a rooftop.

Cyan sighed, "I barely made it in time," and jumped down, running to Neo to see if she was hurt.

Neo only gave her a huge hug. On the verge of tears, Neo managed to whisper, "Thank you for coming."

Cyan smiled, "Come on, we're not out of danger yet." Cyan readied herself by floating multiple spheres of water around her while Cyan raised her blade.

*Alert: Faunus detect, lay down your weapon and surrender.*

*Alert: Faunus detect, lay down your weapon and surrender.*

*Alert: Faunus detect, lay down your weapon and surrender.*

*Alert: Faunus detect, lay down your weapon and surrender.*

Neo and Cyan turned and saw multiple Atlassian knights with weapons drawn and pointed directly at Cyan. The Grimm also poised themselves to strike at the two girls.

*Last warning. Last warning.*

*Last warning. Last warning.*

*Last warning. Last warning.*

The Ursa lunged forward, followed by the remaining Beowolves. Cyan reacted faster than Neo, running forward and hurling small icicle spears at the Beowolves and a larger spear at the Ursa. All of them hit their mark, dropping each Grimm to the ground. Neo was overjoyed that her friend managed to take down so many at once.

Then her ears rang from gunfire. Time slowed. Standing before her, Cyan's body was ripped apart by machine gun fire from the Atlassian knights. Each bullet enticed a wince of pain from Cyan's face, each burning itself into Neo's mind. She dropped her weapon, not believing what just happened.

Once the firing stopped and her senses returned to her, Neo ran.

"CYAN! CYAN! NO, NO, NO NO NO!" Neo screamed as she held her friend who was sputtering blood coming from her mouth, trying to form words, only to be stopped by more blood.

"Shh, don't talk, we'll get you out here!" Neo frantically looked around, only to find herself alone, even the knights had already moved on with their patrol. In the distance, she only saw more Grimm heading their way, but she didn't care.

"N-Neo… Y-you-you've got t-to r-r-un…" Cyan wheezed, coughing intermittently. She managed to catch her breath before any more blood gushed out of her. "T-there's more coming…"

"I won't leave you! I won't!" Neo sobbed.

Cyan could only muster a faint smile at this point and gestured to her pocket. Neo reached in and pulled out a small hand grenade, which she gave to Cyan.

Then at once, everything clicked. "NO! I won't let you sacrifice yourself to let me escape! I can't!" The Grimm drew closer and closer. "Please… there has to be another way…"

Cyan gathered her remaining energy and formed a scowl and shook her head. It was all she could do but Neo understood, even now Cyan was still dictating Neo's actions.

Neo didn't want to go, she couldn't go because her legs had lost all of their strength. But once she saw Cyan's scowl, she knew that it was the last thing her best friend would ever tell her, even if there wasn't anything spoken. She reluctantly stood up and began to run away from Cyan's impending grave. Once she was a safe distance away, she turned around and saw Cyan's last breath leave her body, with Grimm in the nearby area. As the body went lax, the finger that was looped into the pin separated the pin from the rest of the grenade. Within seconds, the bomb exploded, catching a few unfortunate Grimm that was too close in the explosion and leaving only a crater where Cyan's body used to be.

Once again, the entire world was bathed in a white light as Neo's body crumpled to the ground.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry for the late update, it was a hectic week with midterms and stuff. Also, Valkyria Chronicles. If the end seems rushed, it was a little bit but I wanted to finish and put out a new one. Hope everyone had a good veterans day.


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